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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Churros Magnificos

I sense a theme lately in my posts. Must be a Mexican mood! For dessert for my mom's birthday, I decided to make her favorite Disney dessert. She calls them Charos (yes, like the singer - I don't think she would taste good deep fried, but it might be a way to get her to be quiet), but the actual name is Churros. We have been going to Disneyland with her for about 5 years and she still hasn't learned how to say them, but she sure knows how to eat them! They ARE especially tasty at the end of a fun-filled, junk-foodie day at Mickey's home.
I have tried churros before with very unhappy results. So, armed with a new recipe and an important innovation from Drew, I was ready to make this dessert. The results were pretty good! I got the recipe from Ultimate Mexican. It is simple to prepare and tastes and smells great! Here's the recipe:

Procedure:
1. In a medium saucepan, combine water, butter, brown sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Cook and stir mixture until it forms a ball and pulls away form the side of the pan. Remove from heat. Let sit for 10 minutes. Add vanilla and egg, beating well with a wooden spoon.
2. Transfer batter to a pastry bag (or cookie press, see below) fitted with a star tip. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Pipe 4 inch long logs onto prepared baking sheet.
3. In a deep saucepan, heat 3 inches of oil to 375F. Fry logs, a few at a time, in hot oil about 2 minutes or until golden brown on both sides, turning once. Drain on paper towels. Keep warm while you do the remaining batches.
4. In a medium bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Roll warm churros in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve warm.

The innovation Drew came up with was using a cookie press to create the traditional churro shape. I have a Pampered Chef cookie press that has never seen action. I opened it up and checked out the designs and Drew helped me pick one that would work - it was perfect. The press also made forming the Churro dough into churro shapes so simple. If you don't have a cookie press, you can use a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.